This year is Alex's first real Santa-oriented Christmas...we (Bill especially) talked up the whole down-the-chimney, leave out the milk and cookies thing ahead of time...and it was fun the next morning. Christmas Eve we exchanged one gift each (well, two for Alex) and then made a big ceremony of having Alex choose which kinds of cookies Santa would like (five different kinds, one of each) and a glass of milk...put it here on the coffee table so Santa would see it...and then off to bed...Alex just kind of going along with our lunacy...Bill and I a couple of giggly idiots...And then the next morning, the kids wake up, Bill brings up the DVD camera and films Alex still in his crib singing "Jingle Bells" while I'm changing Julia's diaper...I'd asked Alex if he thought Santa came, and he said no, but then Bill told him Santa DID come...so Bill headed down the stairs first, so he could film Alex...I followed...and as Alex got past the wall to the point where he could see into the living room, he started saying "presents...presents...presents..." in a hushed but excited little voice...and we showed him the plate where the cookies had been "all gone!" and he picked up the empty milk glass and looked inside at the little film of white at the bottom...and then we began. Started with the stockings...first thing he pulled out was candy (this is all he tells people now when they ask what Santa brought him - candy) - a Chocolate Santa - which he unwrapped and ate. We had real breakfast later. And so we sat there on the floor tearing paper off of packages...Julia enjoyed the bows...tried to eat the paper too and got mad when I took that away from her (as it dissolved in her mouth)...Bill and I each got each other the 2004 World Series on DVD. I'd planned to from the start, and then I unwrapped it and almost laughed, but I kept quiet and handed him a little package from Julia to Daddy - the same DVD. The last time we did that was early in our relationship and we got each other a toilet plunger - I don't even know why. Weird.
Dinner was at our house - a last-minute change of venues. Everything worked out well - roast beef and yorkshire pudding...a chicken on the grill for non-red-meat-eating family...my sister brought baked squash...we had baked potatoes...grilled romaine lettuce (try it - with olive oil, salt and pepper, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar after it comes off the grill)...and just some cupcakes and cookies for dessert because we were all stuffed...crowded living room of family exchanging gifts before the meal...then spread out through the main floor and the finished basement after dinner....
And I have today off...nothing much going on...took Julia in for her flu shot booster, went out to lunch, picked out paint for the bathroom...other than that...kind of getting back to normal around here. Didn't get all the baking done I'd planned to...but I did a lot...Bill is working now on putting the sink top in our downstairs bathroom where it should have been put a year and a half ago after our basement flooded and the repair work was done...the guy that did the bathroom was lazy and just wanted to be done and gone. So while everything else was done beautifully - basement ceiling...carpeting...painting...the bathroom - this guy's only part in the whole thing besides contracting with all the GOOD people who did everything else - the bathroom looked the worst. So Bill is fixing it, and we're painting the walls a cool, bluish-greenish-greyish color called Wickford Bay.
But now - we're going to spring the kids from daycare so Alex can play in the snow.
I hope you all had a lovely and peaceful Holiday!
